[MD] Changes in 2011

[david buchanan]

Horse said:

... Horse the evil administrator is beating down the true forces of the enlightened and the pioneering. ... You don't have an original idea in nearly 15 years and yet you badmouth the guys that go out and try and do something to further Pirsigs work. .. When you do have something to say all you do is repeat it ad nauseam and refuse to answer any questions that some of us have which may throw a bit of light on what you're thinking. But apparently asking questions of you is bad form and, anyway, there's no requirement to answer questions. ...You never ever rose to the challenge of supporting your beliefs by answering questions or showing how what you had to say was better than what Pirsig had proposed. Duck and cover, dodge those questions, find a mantra, repeat the bullshit over and over. No substance, no point.

dmb says:
That's really what it's all about. Ironically, the most inflexible and incorrigible participants respond to these complaints and criticisms by portraying themselves as heroic misfits fighting "the man". Clearly, "misfit" is self-serving and self-aggrandizing characterization is a distorted version Pirsig's ideas about the role of the contrarian in cultural evolution.

I think there is nothing heroic about incorrigibility. In a place like this, ignoring contrary evidence and evading questions is a very serious problem. It's a violation of decency and fair-play. It's not honest. That kind of behavior is the mark of very low intellectual quality. And yet that's exactly what the so-called "misfits" do, some of them for ignoring and evading for many years now. The problem seems to be plain, old-fashioned incompetence, not that they have a "different" point of view. These misfits don't fit into a philosophical discussion group because such a discussion can not function without answering questions, saying what you mean and honestly facing up to the relevant evidence. A conversation just can't work without these basic standards of decency. 

As I see it, the participants who conduct themselves this way, year after year, really don't belong in a place like this regardless of the topic discussed. They kind of behavior would spoil ANY kind of philosophical discussion and if they ignored evidence and refused to answer questions in a court of law they'd be cited for contempt or laughed out of the courtroom. I mean, in some contexts it is literally against the law to do what they do here every day of the week. As I see it, Horse's contention is that this behavior interferes with the main purpose of this forum and I don't see how anyone can doubt that. On some days there is nothing but noise and interference so that decent conversation is completely shut out. This post - like almost every post lately - is about nothing philosophical and it's not even interesting. It's just about dealing with childish bullshit that should never exist in the first place. What a drag.